First of the Arctic 30 get visas to leave Russia

St Petersburg, 26 December 2013 – Arctic 30 activist and UK national Anthony Perrett has today been given a visa in his passport from the Federal Migration Service allowing him to leave the country.

Anthony is the first of the Arctic 30 to have been given an exit visa after the Investigative Committee dropped the criminal case against the 28 Greenpeace International activists and two freelance journalists earlier this week.

In response, Anthony – from Newport in Wales, UK – said:

“We’re nearly there. This was the final step. I’ll be leaving for home in Wales as soon as possible now, extremely proud of what I did three months ago. We took peaceful action to defend a part of the world that is the heartbeat of our climate. The Arctic is a measure of our planet’s health and I refuse to stay silent as the oil companies line up to profit from its destruction. Together we are saying to the oil companies that the Arctic is off limits and that we must save this beautiful region for future generations.”

The non-Russian members of the Arctic 30 are expected to leave Russia over the coming days.

Anthony is one of the people whose ship was seized when the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise was boarded after a peaceful protest against Gazprom's drilling activities in the Pechora Sea.

All 30 have since had the case against them dropped after the Russian Parliament approved an amnesty decree last week. The 30 benefited from the amnesty without admitting any guilt. The last person to have his case dropped was Cristian D'Alessandro of Italy.